Broncos’ woes continue in defeat to Happinets

SAITAMA – In the history of professional sports — pick a sport, any sport — very few franchises have achieved the level of futility that’s become the Saitama Broncos’ trademark.

Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Broncos have lost 133 of their 148 regular-season games. They were 5-47 in the 2013-14 campaign, followed by a 6-46 mark last season.

On Sunday, Saitama suffered loss No. 40 in the 44th game of its current dreadful season.

The Broncos failed to slow down the high-powered Akita Northern Happinets’ offense for huge stretches of the second half in an 86-63 defeat at Saitama Municipal Gymnasium.

After being completely outplayed in the second half, Saitama extended its losing streak to nine games. Since Dec. 19, the Broncos have lost 23 of 24 games under first-year coach Ryutaro Onodera.

Saitama had no answer for Akita’s inside offense; the Happinets made 25 of 44 shots from inside the arc, including Ray Turner’s 8-for-9 and Richard Roby’s 7-for-13.

Saitama had no answer for the visitors’ shooting skills from 3-point range (8 of 15), either.

As a result, Akita controlled the tempo and took a 42-33 lead into halftime.

And then the Happinets turned their offense into overdrive. Moments after Roby buried a nifty fadeaway jumper, teammate Akitomo Takeno canned a 3 from the right side, extending the visitors’ lead to 57-36.

During one rapid-fire sequence early in the fourth quarter, the Happinets swished three 3s in quick succession that sealed Saitama’s fate.

But first Saitama’s shortcomings on interior defense were shown again, with Kenichi Takahashi delivering a high lob to Turner, who converted an easy bucket to stretch the lead to 66-46.

That opened the floodgates. Takahashi, Yuto Otsuka and Takahashi again drained nothing-but-net shots from beyond the arc.

For Akita, it was part of a 16-4 spurt — capped by a textbook spin move that led to a layup for Turner — to open the fourth quarter and gave the visitors an 80-50 lead.

For Akita (29-15), it was a comprehensive beatdown. In addition to the inside dominance and sharp outside shooting, the Happinets spaced the floor effectively, set good picks and made good passes. One impressive display occurred seconds into the second half when Takeno dished the ball to Roby, feeding him the ball in stride as he raced to the basket for a layup.

Turner, a Texas A&M alum, had 18 points, excelling near the basket against an ineffective Saitama defense. Roby put 14 points on the board and Otsuka had 13. Shigehiro Taguchi added 10 points, Takahashi scored nine, knocking down a trio of 3s (three attempts in total) and Takeno had seven points.

Addressing the fans after the game, Tarver said, “Everybody played hard. We just came up short today. So we’re just going to keep practicing hard and try to win for you guys.”

Akita coach Makoto Hasegawa said his team’s defense keyed the victory. He noted that his players’ defensive recognition and persistence were strong. He cited forward Noriyuki Sugasawa’s tenacious effort as a key part of the team’s defensive strategy that paid off.

Roby summed up his team’s weekend sweep by saying, “It was good to have two good wins.”

“This team (Saitama) is a little feisty team, so you can’t take them for granted. As much as you want to, you can’t,” he added. “They are going to come out there and play hard. We worked on a lot of things this week during practice, and we were able to execute (them), things that we are going to need to go forward and have a chance to win a championship

Golden Kings 93, Lakestars 84

In Tomigusuku, Okinawa Prefecture, sharpshooter Ryuichi Kishimoto electrified the home crowd with a career-high 41-point performance and the Golden Kings rolled to their second win of the weekend over Shiga.

The 25-year-old Kishimoto made 8 of 12 3s. He sank 5 of 10 shots from inside the arc and drained 7 of 8 free throws.